Solvent winterization of sunflower seed oil

Abstract

Abstract Samples of oil from whole and dehulled sunflower seed were solvent winterized. The solvent mixture, 85% acetone, 15% hexane ( v /v), was used at solvent‐in‐oil concentrations of 20, 40, and 70% by wt and the samples winterized at 0, −5, −10, and −15 ± .01 C for 4 hr. Generally, sunflower oils from whole seed remained free from cloud formation longer on refrigeration when the oils were winterized at lower temperatures and at lower solvent‐in‐oil concentrations. With oil from the dehulled samples, no winterization condition produced an oil with a predictable clouding time. However, correlations were significant between residual wax content after winterization and clouding time of the oils from whole seed. Oils from dehulled seed were not as highly correlated with wax content as oils from whole seed. This study indicates that crude sunflower seed oil might be winterized with the aid of solvents and that decortication prior to extraction might not be necessary for effective winterization.